Pulling the Cylinder Head

philcobill

philcobill

Senior Member
Well, I am thinking of pulling the cylinder head on my car, something I have never done before.

I am game to try it, but a bit reluctant to try because of the horror stories I have heard about studs breaking off, heads not coming off, etc etc. So, should I attempt it by myself? Can it be done without taking the engine out of the car?

I am a 65-year old retiree who loves his Model A, but feels like a 20-year old when comes to taking care of it. I do not have all of the equipment and tools at hand to complete the job.

The local model A club mechanic is busy with other projects and he is a farmer to boot. So it may be several weeks before he is available. However, I figure I can get started by pulling the head.

Any ideas?
 
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Do you belong to a club and do they have tools to loan out? A head puller is a great asset when removing a head.

Yes you can remove the head while in the car. But you will have to move or remove a few things, radiator, distributor, water pump come to mind along with a few other items.

Do you or your club have the Red Book?
 
The Master Cylinder said:
Do you belong to a club and do they have tools to loan out? A head puller is a great asset when removing a head.

Yes you can remove the head while in the car. But you will have to move or remove a few things, radiator, distributor, water pump come to mind along with a few other items.

Do you or your club have the Red Book?
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You don't need to remove the radiator or water pump/fan assembly, you can just take the fan assembly straight off with the head all in one piece.

I recommend starting from the assumption that the head will come off easily. They frequently do, and those people don't start long threads on message boards to write about it, which is why you never hear about them.
 
The Master Cylinder said:
Do you belong to a club and do they have tools to loan out? A head puller is a great asset when removing a head.

Yes you can remove the head while in the car. But you will have to move or remove a few things, radiator, distributor, water pump come to mind along with a few other items.

Do you or your club have the Red Book?
Click to expand...
yes, I have a copy of the red book. Looks like I will be doing some reading the next day or two.


Yes, I'm a member of the local chapter of model a club. I am not sure what they have for references and tools. I will have to look into that
 
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Remove fan belt and distributor...that's it.
Losses all head bolts about half way...turn the engine over...head usually will pop loose...leave the plugs in when you do this.
Fairly easy task if the head will pop.
Picking up off the engine you will need help, those things are heavy
 
The baseline for trying to remove the head should be:
  1. Drain the coolant
  2. Remove the fan belt, distributor, and plug connectors
  3. Remove all 14 head nuts
  4. Open the throttle
  5. Crank the engine; the pressure generated by the pistons should pop the head loose

A lot of horror stories from trying to remove heads come from engines that have sat for years and cannot be started. If your engine is functioning, you're much more likely to get the head off easily.
 
Use the search function on You Tube to look up “Model A Cylinder Head”. There are a number of videos on the subject including three recent ones by Alexiskai0 who is a member and contributor here on the Ford Barn.

David Serrano
 
alexiskai said:
The baseline for trying to remove the head should be:
  1. Drain the coolant
  2. Remove the fan belt, distributor, and plug connectors
  3. Remove all 14 head nuts
  4. Open the throttle
  5. Crank the engine; the pressure generated by the pistons should pop the head loose

Also remove the upper radiator hose.
Click to expand...
 
alexiskai said:
You don't need to remove the radiator or water pump/fan assembly, you can just take the fan assembly straight off with the head all in one piece.
Click to expand...

That is way I said "Move or remove". Since he indicated he is working alone it would be better IMO to move the radiator forward and remove the water pump so it is easier to handle. But hey, what do I know?
 
California Travieso said:
Use the search function on You Tube to look up “Model A Cylinder Head”. There are a number of videos on the subject including three recent ones by Alexiskai0 who is a member and contributor here on the Ford Barn.

David Serrano
Click to expand...

I appreciate the reference, though I should note that I intentionally skip over head removal in the videos because everyone's situation is different.

jayvee34 said:
Also remove the upper radiator hose.
Click to expand...

Ahhhh good catch.

The Master Cylinder said:
Since he indicated he is working alone it would be better IMO to move the radiator forward and remove the water pump so it is easier to handle.
Click to expand...

I disagree only in that, in my experience, leaving the pump in place gives you a convenient spot to grip the head when you're lifting it out. You certainly can go either way.
 
Hello Philcobill, all good comments above. I had to change my head gasket last year, water in the oil. I agree that the head will come off with the 2 bladed fan, not so sure with the 4 bladed fan. You can't always count on all the nice things described above to happen! Sometimes you will find that there is a lot of rust around the studs. The studs may not be perfectly vertical in the block. Some sort of head puller is very desirable especially if you have a bad back! You might find that the studs are not snug in the block and after removing some you have to install Helicoil inserts. Don't try to push ahead with a new headgasket with loose studs. If you are replacing studs, spend the money and get the better grade studs (I think they are called grade 8, chromemoly steel). This is just my opinion, and is not original, but do not use the clamp on the #8 stud for the distributer cable. I absolutely hate the idea of loosening a cylinder head nut just to remove the distributer for service If you have a long stud at this location, use a Model T head bolt washer to make up for the thickness of the clamp! Be very careful torqueing the two long studs at the radiator goose neck on top of the cylinder head on re-assembly. The goose neck is fragile and easily broken (it happened to me!). This may seem crazy but use a paper match on each goose neck ear on the outside of the hole between the goose neck and the cylinder head and use RTV sealer instead of a gasket. A hard paper gasket can get wet and soft and the goose neck will have a crack failure next to the nut.

Finally, torque the head down often after assembly to 55 ft-lbs. This may provoke some comments but the head should be torqued down cold and the nuts should not be lubricated. After assembly, torque, then run the car for about 5 minutes. Next morning torque again. Run the car for 10-15 minutes, next morning retorque. You are compressing the gasket and it will take several times for the torque setting to finally stay at 55 ft-lbs. I check mine every year to verify that the head is still at 55 ft-lbs. After reassembling the head and torqueing and then going out for a short drive is a good way to get water back into your oil! This project is very doable for the weekend mechanic but in my opinion it is not fun. I recommend you have someone on hand to help you. By the way, why are you removing the head? Do you have water in the oil? Excessive out side seepage? I wouldn't remove the head for just an inspection unless there are underlying reasons. Good luck, Ed
 
Yep, forgot about the water, and the cardboard between the fan and radiator.
Getting old is hell...I think...can't remember
 
Ed in Maine said:
This is just my opinion, and is not original, but do not use the clamp on the #8 stud for the distributer cable. I absolutely hate the idea of loosening a cylinder head nut just to remove the distributer for service If you have a long stud at this location, use a Model T head bolt washer to make up for the thickness of the clamp! Be very careful torqueing the two long studs at the radiator goose neck on top of the cylinder head on re-assembly. The goose neck is fragile and easily broken (it happened to me!). This may seem crazy but use a paper match on each goose neck ear on the outside of the hole between the goose neck and the cylinder head and use RTV sealer instead of a gasket. A hard paper gasket can get wet and soft and the goose neck will have a crack failure next to the nut.

Finally, torque the head down often after assembly to 55 ft-lbs. This may provoke some comments but the head should be torqued down cold and the nuts should not be lubricated.
Click to expand...

This is all good advice, but I will just say that when I did my cylinder head recently, I did the opposite of almost all the recommendations quoted here, and my engine works fine. So does Ed's! They both work, and that is the lesson. There are multiple successful approaches, don't feel like you have to figure out the optimal way to do it.
 
Pulling the head is pretty straight forward. I did it for the first time in my life two years ago and it increased my confidence about working on my car. The old head gasket showed water leaks. I strongly recommend buying the head pulling kit from Snyder's. It is cheap! Following the instructions the head came off like a charm. Do a very good job of cleaning the surfaces and use a copper spray adhesive and you should be good to go. I took the opportunity to replace the head with a 6.1:1 version and am very happy with the increased power climbing hills. Be sure to follow the recommended head nut tightening sequence and re-torque them two or three times over the next few heating/cooling cycles. I did a re-torque at the two week point after a few short trips and some still needed it. One of the several great aspects if the Model A is that anyone can do about 90% of the work themselves.
 
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